Frostburg mining journal. [volume] (Frostburg, Md.) 1871-1913, 1887-09-17

from Father to Son-Isaac Pitman's In
vention and the Use 1t Has Been Put to.
For ages It has been a great object
with mankind to wri'o rs fast as they
can talk. Systems W iting adapted to
this purpose are calleu shorthand writ
ing" though there seems to be no reason
why we should not drop the "hand' and
call them simply "short writing" Cicero
had slave who could report his speeches,
word for word, as they were uttered.
The system used to report debates in the
English Parliament is that of a man
named Quincy, and was invented many
years ago. 1t is purely arbitrary-that
is, it consists of signs which represent
objects or words, by an understanding
that they shall do so, and not according
to any system; thus circle would stand
for the world, &C. Mr.. Quincy made his
system very rapid by having large num-
Der of signs for whole phrases of fire.
quent occurrence, such as "there ought
not to have been," "the honorable gen.
tleman on the other side,' &c. A fast
speaker can be followed with ease
by Quincy reporter; and ever since
the system was invented the proceedings
of the British Parliament have been thus
reported by generation after generation
of the Quincy family, the children learn
ing the art just as soon as they can
handle a pencil, and practicing under
the supervision of their elders long be-
fore they enter upon the work of actual
reporting. The system, however, is
very laborious and difficult to acquire.
Dickens is said to have described his
thirty-eighth chapter of David Copper
field" A Quincy writer, who was in this
country during celebrated trial in New
York, some years ago, while he COM
peted successfully with the other report
ers said that he would recommend no adult
to undertake to make himself an expert
in the method. 1t bears, indeed, the
same relation to a system of shorthand
which has an alphabet, and spells its
words according to fixed rules, that
Chinese bears to ordinary English.
There are many such systems now in
use for writing our language, but most
of them are notifications of the "pho-
biography" or sound writing, which was
invented by Isaac Pitman, of Bath, Eng
land. This is based on the principle of
putting down signs for the sounds, as
they fall from the speakers lips, which is
nominally the principle of all our spell
ing, though of course the signs cannot
be the letters in ordinary use. In prac-
tice, too, phrases are built up and abbre-
viations used as in longhand. Mr.. Pit
writing one invariable sign for the same
sound under all circumstances, but in
actual reporting he employs several signs
for the same sound, according to the
combination with others in which it is
found. 1t was necessary for him, in con-
structing his system, to devise a
set of characters which could be
easily learned, easily remembered
when wanted, easily written and
easily read afterward. For this pur-
pose he constructed his alphabet out of
the circle and it's diameters, or lines
drawn through its centre, to represent
the consonants; and used dots or dashes
placed before or after the consonants to
represent the vowels. In actual reporting
there is no time to write vowels, and
their sound is indicated by putting the
consonants above the line if first
place" vowel is understood, as in the
word "eat;" on the line if second
place" vowel is understood, as in the
word "ate;" and below the line if
"third-place" vowel is understood, as in
the word "at." 1t is found that great
deal of time is lost in taking the hand off
the paper, and various devices are
adopted 10 avoid this in familiar phrases.
To learn photography takes diligent
student of ordinary capacity working
four hours a day about nine months.
He has then mastered the theory of the
system, as he might the elements of
music. Afterward perfect accomplish
ment can only be attained and kept by
constant practice. The average speed of
good photographer is about $50 words
minute. The writer does not believe it
possible for the best adept to follow
very rapid speaker for any great length
of time with perfect accuracy The
strain of the work is tremendous, and
no man earns living by more exacting
and exhausting labor than the profess
sional shorthand writer. Think what he
has to do-first to catch the sound, then
to recall the sign for it, and lastly to
write the character down. And this
without an instant's hesitation, for if he
is forced to pause ever SO brief space
as to consider exactly what the orator
has just said-lo! sentence has slipped
away from him. He must, in short,
hear, think and write with an
unvarying distinctness, promptness and
legibility. Fortunately, the severest test
Is not by any means always put upon the
! reporter; most distinct speakers are de-
liberate, and an examination in court.
consisting of questions and answers,
with its frequent pauses, is not difficult
job; but chaos comes to the reporter
| when, as sometimes happens, witness and
attorney insist on talking "both at once"
The photographers great labor, as rule,
is in getting his notes transcribed The
typewriter with its rapid and neat work,
is an assistance to him. A reporter will
frequently dictate to four typewriter
copyists at the same time, thus greatly
shortening the time of transcription.
Others send out their report from time to
time to copyists who can read their notes,
and thus have the transcript ready soon
after the taking of the report is COM
pleted. The introduction of a system of